User Commands                                              cmp(1)



NAME
     cmp - compare two files

SYNOPSIS
     cmp [-l | -s] file1 file2 [skip1] [skip2]

DESCRIPTION
     The cmp utility compares two files. cmp writes no output  if
     the  files  are  the  same.  Under  default options, if they
     differ, it writes to  standard  output  the  byte  and  line
     numbers  at  which  the first difference occurred. Bytes and
     lines are numbered beginning with 1. If one file is an  ini-
     tial subsequence of the other, that fact is noted. skip1 and
     skip2 are initial byte offsets into file1 and file2  respec-
     tively,  and  can  be  either  octal or decimal. A leading 0
     denotes octal.

OPTIONS
     The following options are supported:

     -l       Write the byte number (decimal) and  the  differing
              bytes (octal) for each difference.



     -s       Write nothing  for  differing  files.  Return  exit
              status only.



OPERANDS
     The following operands are supported:

     file1    A path name of the first file to  be  compared.  If
              file1 is -, the standard input is used.



     file2    A path name of the second file to be  compared.  If
              file2 is -, the standard input is used.



     If both file1 and file2 refer to standard input or refer  to
     the  same  FIFO  special, block special or character special
     file, an error results.

USAGE
     See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of  cmp
     when  encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte (2
    **31 bytes).




SunOS 5.10          Last change: 19 Jul 2006                    1






User Commands                                              cmp(1)



EXAMPLES
     Example 1: Comparing Files Byte for Byte

     The following example does a byte  for  byte  comparison  of
     file1 and file2:

     example% cmp file1 file2 0 1024

     It skips the first 1024 bytes in file2 before  starting  the
     comparison.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
     See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
     variables  that  affect  the execution of cmp: LANG, LC_ALL,
     LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

EXIT STATUS
     The following error values are returned:

     0        The files are identical.



     1        The files are different.  This  includes  the  case
              where  one  file  is identical to the first part of
              the other.



     >1       An error occurred.



ATTRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | SUNWcsu                     |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | CSI                         | Enabled                     |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Interface Stability         | Standard                    |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|


SEE ALSO
     comm(1), diff(1), attributes(5),  environ(5),  largefile(5),
     standards(5)




SunOS 5.10          Last change: 19 Jul 2006                    2